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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Electronic style and bourbon-soaked blues mix with newfound, 20 May 2003
If Exile on Coldharbor Lane was a coming out party and La Peste was a musical coming of age, Power in the Blood is a second childhood. The electronic style and Bible-belt schtick that had been all but discarded in favor of bourbon-soaked blues have reemerged with newfound purity and efficacy.The album opens with a forgettable pickin'n'grinnin' number then launches into the title cut, a throbbing fight song for marxist revolution. Other stand-outs include 'Woodie Guthrie,' a twangy indictment of right-wing orthodoxy--one can almost smell the bluegrass; 'Let the Caged Bird Sing,' a prison song worthy of David Allen Coe; and 'Lord Have Mercy,' a boy-done-wrong-and-broke-momma's-heart tale whose lyrics would do Steve Earle proud. The band even manages the seemingly impossible, expanding their range with such gems as the Sealesque 'Reachin',' and add a touch of Barbados rum to their Tennessee Whiskey with 'Bullet Proof.' The band has done a remarkable job of resuscitating their hallmark blend of parody and politics without interfering with the musical and thematic sophistication they demonstrated on La Peste. What sort of album can bring together fans of rap, metal, punk, dance and pop in the sort of vibrant community found in the forums on the official Alabama3 site and the unofficial FreeA3? An album that is diverse as it is well-crafted, and as intelligent as it is witty. In short, an album as good as 'Power in the Blood'.
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
more power, more blood, 9 Nov 2002
I hope it’s safer to like the Alabama 3 than it is to know them. Judging by the memorial lists on each of their albums, it’s a hard life out there in Brixton.
It began so differently. Debut album ‘Exile On Cold Harbour Lane’ was a loveable novelty amid largely joyless releases of the late 90s. Littered with affectionate parodies of the rave scene and radical politics, the lightness of touch was reflected in the packaging, a spoof of the Stones’ Exile On Main Street. The band’s greatest achievement was never to stray into the grim territory that is The Comedy Album, that land littered with the corpses of the Worzels and the Barron Knights. Indeed, with the endorsement of Irvine Welsh, the Alabama 3 were the very model of rock cred. Wider recognition came when ‘Woke Up This Morning’ was used on the Sopranos and follow-up album La Peste suffered from the band trying to sound all grown-up with the attention.
‘The Power In The Blood’ is darker and harder yet, but that deftness of touch and defiant determination to have a good time is back. The album catches fire with ‘The Devil Went Down To Ibiza’, percussion and almost structure-free, but with some fantastic harmonies. ‘Let The Caged Bird Sing’ is a joke at the expense of the lazy critic, as much an English folk song as it is contemporary US blues.
An album that starts like the last hurrah of a one-trick band is actually a carefully styled and ambitious masterpiece. The set will doubtless be completely ignored since the band are well over 30, not easily categorised and dare to make their point with humour. It’s a shame, they’re great. I still don’t think it’s safe to be one of their friends, though.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Long time coming, 30 Oct 2002
I was caught damn off guard by this. Some of he stand-out songs ('Power in the Blood', 'Woody Guthrie', 'Bullet Proof', 'The Moon has lost the Sun', and the totally wicked 'R.E.H.A.B'.) have been played live for ages, and the shorter versions here were initially a disappointment. For example 'R.E.H.A.B.' live is a sing-a-long about twice the length, and is gonna challenge 'Mao Tse Tung Said' as the highlight of the live show. Then the rest of the album seems a lot more dance/ambient-centric than you'd expect, and thus a bit less accessible than previous releases. I've been listening to it for a few days now though, and the inate catchiness of all the songs mentioned have hooked me proper, and the rest of the songs have grown on me a lot more, expecially 'Strobe Life' and 'Year Zero'. I only realised writing this review that when I tried to piick out some highlights, over half the album came out on the list. While the album seems a lot more darker, broodier and serious than the previous two, a good chunk of it is vintage dance-able, sing-able A3. The rest is a lot more dark and serious, but the 5 star run continues as far as I'm concerned.
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